October 25, 2014
Springs Mountain Sangha
November 2014 Calendar
Ongoing Events
Newcomer Orientation: 2nd Monday of the month, CC Shove Chapel, Dharma Hall upstairs at 5:45 pm to meet anyone who would like some orientation to meditation, to our tradition, or to our sangha and customs.
Dharma Study and Discussion: Each Monday 5:15 pm, CC Shove Chapel, Dharma Hall downstairs.
Zen Threads: November 1, Saturday
Saturday morning’s meditation schedule will be a little different on the first Saturday of every month.
6:30 to 8:00 AM Three periods of meditation as before
8:00 AM Terry Crane will give the Zen Threads talk this month, entitled “Guan Yin and Me”. Discussion will follow, and we’ll close with our vows at 8:25, as usual.
Once our nomadic Dharma hall is packed away, all who are interested will go to Wooglins for breakfast and more conversation.
Dharma Talks:
November 17 Sarah Bender, Sensei
November 24 Andrew Palmer, Sensei
Work in the Room: November 15 Sarah Bender, Sensei. Kathryn will lead this Saturday’s meditation.
Steering Committee Meeting: (uncertain!) Contact: Robert King @ kingrh@comcast.net) for updated information
Body of the Way Practice Period
We hope you are enjoying your own deepening practice, knowing that others are experimenting with you: What is a practice period? What is yours?
Our Autumn koan series starts this Sunday! Sunday afternoons, 3 to 5 PM at the Creek Bend Zendo, 7528 Jenkin Place: Oct. 26, Nov. 2, 9, 23 and 30. For each of these weeks, we will take up a koan, and we will take up as companion to the koan a selection from our founding teacher, Joan Sutherland’s manual for koan practice: Acequias and Gates. Sarah will send the selection and the koan out separately.
Zen Precepts: We take these up together as ethical inquiry, and as vows. The first two sessions of this series will be on Nov. 1 and 15 (Saturday mornings, 10 AM to 12 noon) at the Center for Inner Peace, in Pueblo. Andrew Palmer, Sensei and I will be alternating leading these. For questions, please contact Sarah at sembender@gmail.com. If you are eager to take up precepts inquiry, but can’t get to Pueblo, please let Sarah know. If there are several of you, we’ll figure out how to make it happen here.
Work in the Room: Both Sarah Bender and Andrew Palmer will offer additional appointment times during the practice period:
Andrew: Thursday mornings, 10:30 to 12:30, at his home. alpsensei@gmail.com
Sarah: Wednesday evenings, 6:30 to 8:30, at her home. sembender@gmail.com
Please don’t hesitate to make an appointment if you’d like to meet with one of us.
If the times offered don’t work for you, let us know; we’ll try to find another time.
Saturday, Nov. 8: one-day Autumn Breeze Meditation retreat with Wet Mountain Sangha in Pueblo, with Andrew Palmer, Sensei.. All are warmly invited. alpsensei@gmail.org
Wednesday, Nov. 19, evening public talk in Pueblo by Sarah Bender, Sensei. Details will follow. All are welcome.
December 6-7: “Buddha Wakes” retreat leading up to Bodhi Day, when we commemorate Siddhartha Gautama’s enlightenment.
So please watch for these and other opportunities, and let us know if you have a particular request.
It’s a good time to connect with sangha, both offering the energy of your practice to others and drawing from the energy of others to support your practice.
Many thanks,
Sarah Bender
Autumn Breeze Meditation Retreat
November 8th
Center for Inner Peace, Pueblo
A one day retreat with Wet Mountain Sangha and Andrew Palmer, Sensei. For more information and to register please contact Doug Mesner mesner3da@hotmail.com
All Sangha Meeting
November 16th
Sunday
4:00-7:00 PM
The Woman’s Club, Colorado College
10 Mesa Road
This is our once-a-year meeting to elect a steering committee and approve a budget for the coming year. It is also a wonderful opportunity to get better acquainted and share ideas about the sangha. The steering committee will update us on any plans in the works and unite input on where we go from here. Some of our best ideas have come from these meetings.
This is a pot luck event please bring a vegetarian dish to share.
Looking Ahead
Buddha Wakes: a Bodhi Day Retreat, December 6-7
at the Creek Bend Zendo
Each year we celebrate Shakyamuni’s Enlightenment by joining it: entering into meditation, cleaning our eye in the dark and lifting our gaze to greet the Morning Star.
This year we sit together Dec. 6 and on into Dec. 7, ending with brunch.
More information about this retreat will follow.